Monday, May 02, 2005

HumanityCritic's Viewing Habits

Between me trying to save the world from subpar Hip Hop, trying to date Salma Hayek, and throat chopping your garden variety House Negro, I don't watch as much TV as I used to. But I must admit though, I am somewhat of a snob. Not a "I achieved more in life than you so you are inferior to me" snob because somebody should beat the brakes off of those assholes. But I am a movie and television snob, who will openly wonder if your parents were siblings if you say something like "My favorite show is "The Parkers"". Here is a quick rundown of a few television shows that I try not to miss.

Inside the Actors Studio: If you aren't really a movie fan then this show might bore the shit out of you since it is a one hour interview, and a rundown of an actors career. But I love this show because you get to hear your favorite actors talk about their method, and discuss movies that might be close to your heart. I admit, it can get tiring hearing someone go on and on about themselves, but you learn some pretty interesting things. Like Jack Lemmon's life long struggle with alcoholism, Gene Hackman breaking down when recalling the day his dad left his family, and that Will Smith turned down the starring role in "The Matrix" to do "The Wild Wild West". Even though the shows host James Lipton asks the same list of questions at the end of each show, I am still curious to see what people's "Favorite Curse Word" is.(If you were wondering, mine is "motherfucker", or "douchebag", depending on the day.)

24: I have been a fan of this show since day one, but the one of the problems that I have with it is if you miss a day you are royally fucked! Keifer Sutherland's character "Jack Bauer" is great because the guy simply doesn't give a fuck, and he will do what it takes to get the job done.(i.e Electric shock his current girlfriends estranged husband to get information, break 4 fingers of a guy to get information even though he got orders from the president not to do so, etc..) The guy would kick your grandmother in the forehead just to get some information. Granted, you have to remember that it is strictly a TV show, because no guy can have so many days where he saves the country. What I also like about the show is that the writers aren't scared to kill off a popular character, so my advice to you is to not to get attached to any character not named "Jack Bauer". Lastly, you have to love a show that had a black President.

Pardon the Interruption: I am like any other red blooded, porn loving, George Bush loathing, sports fan who watches ESPN on a continuous basis. But the problem with some sports coverage is that it can be as irresponsible as the nightly news is, reporters blurring the line between actual facts and their piss poor opinion. This show consists of two guys, Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who definitely express their opinions but they don't blur the line between that and the facts. What I also like about the show is that you never know what their stance might be. For example, some commentators you know hate Bary Bonds, hate Kobe, so every story about those individuals that is presented to them is going to be met with a negative reaction. Not these guys, they judge sports issues on a individual basis, you can't peg these guys down. Instead of hearing some ex-NBA player who was absolute garbage rant about how horrible Kobe is, or Michael "coke and whores" Irvin talk about what a disgrace Randy Moss is, I rather hear legitimate arguments from legitimate journalists.

"The Office": The verdict really isn't in concerning the American version of said show, but the past few episodes have shown some promise. Usually when shows that were originally British become americanized it doesn't really translate because I think that Americans don't really have the same sense of humor as the British. For example, what made the British version so great were the awkward pauses when someone told a unfunny joke, or the expressions on people's faces that spoke volumes. I didn't think those subtleties would translate being that us Americans are as subtle as a prison raping. But hopefully I'm wrong and the American version of "The Office" catches on. Better yet hopefully it can be half as funny as the original.

VH1's 'Behind the Music": Isn't it great to see your favorite singer or band reminisce about how they almost overdosed, or how their manager happened to steal 5 million dollars from them? Like "Inside the Actors Studio", you learn details about certain artists that you wouldn't regularly learn.(i.e I don't say this about anybody but I feel the Professor Griff would kick my ass./ Biggie shouldn't of taken the high road and dissed the fuck out of Tupac/ Bobby Brown is a goddamned crackhead!!-but I guess everyone has known that for a while huh?..) Definitely a good show, so good in fact that you sit there glued to the television watching artists that regularly you wouldn't give two fucks about.

Real Time with Bill Maher: I believe in absolutely knowing your enemy, so sometimes I will watch FOX news just to sharpen my debating skills against your garden variety bottom feeders:(i.e, Republicans, Black Republicans, Uncle Toms who support Condi Rice because of her skin color, any black person who voted for Bush strictly because of the gay marriage issue-Peasant) Well, even though Bill Maher I think considers himself libertarian, he indeed has many republicans on his show so its good to see how they think. He's pretty funny, and tends to get to the core of an issue and not let any guest get away with bullshitting him. Granted, this season kind of sucks because he has been on some "Lets get a more conservative audience" crap because of the heat he is getting from the right. I hope he lets that go because you don't hear right-wing hosts talking about having a more "liberal" audience.

I love ITAS if only for James Liptons facial expression.The British version of the office is much funnier but i'm really enjoying the American one too,you need to add Scrubs to that list that's a funny show don't know why it's not that popular.

Yo Humanity!!! I think you and I were separated at birth or something man. For the exception of The Office (which somehow, I've never heard of) we are totally in sync with the other programs. In fact, I TiVo each and every one of these man. I've been telling folks for years about "24" and I agree with you. You miss a day, then you are simply ass out! Did you ever see Keifer on Inside the Actors Studio. He sounds completely different from his Jack character.

What can I say about PTI? Kornheiser and Wilbon are the best duo since Kramden and Norton. I've began to watch Tony Rome now. I like his sarcasm. As for Bill Maher, who my wife refers to as my "pasty faced friend", man you took the words out of my mouth. The heck with the conservative audience shit. He even told his crowd to be quiet on Friday night! What the???

24 is the ish. I've been watching that since season one hour 1. jack has got to link up with better looking chicks though. and does everyone on that show fast for 24 hrs. i mean come have ctu order out for pizza or something.

I applaud people like you. Even though you are, uh, just a tad violent once in a while, you always do it because the beat-down-ee is a blithering idiot. Bill Maher is one of my favorites. Thanks be to HBO. As we know, he'd be kicked off any other network.

Actors Studio is one of my favorite shows also. But some "actors" just shouldn't be on the show. Jennifer Lopez for one (and I like some of her movies). I had to turn away when she was the guest. Painful.

Inside the Actors' Studio!!!!!!!!! I didn't even get done with the list cause i had to comment. That show is the best-est thing since slice bread lol. I've seen the Will Smith eppy about a million times. Lipton is hilarious! Oh you can go to the webside for the show and answer the questions that lipton asks and u'll be matched with and Actor or Actress that u'r most like. LOVE IT!

AND dont' get me started on the Office. THe orginal is the best(sidenote: i hear the creator is coming out with another series about an actor who thinks he's the shit but really isn't. The show will follow him around as he goes on auditions etc. can't wait!)Speaking of British comedy and how the tend to flop when America tries their hand with em..have you seen Couplings?

24 may be most entertaining hour of telivision outside of "The Wire." Best moments of this season (defined as moments in which we jumped off of our collective couches and yelled "Hell, yeah!") are when Tony saved Jack by blasting a load of bad buys and when the new President called Palmer(actually, we yelled "hell, yeah" when Palmer's return was alluded to in the "preview of next week's 24" thing).

The only thing we don't like about Maher is that when he is clearly outfoxed on an issue he always changes the subject instead of admitting he has no answer or just saying he was wrong.

On British shows that have flopped Stateside, like 2ra mentioned, have you seen Coupling? OhMiGawd...I have not laughed so hard in my life!! It couldn't work here, Americans' sense of humor is flawed to say the least, but rent the first 3 seasons, it's a riot and a half. Ditto on Inside the Actors Studio...but then again, I tend to like much of what comes out of the New School....